Tigers staying on course for NCAA tournament bid

Last year, Memphis needed to win the Conference USA tournament to book their place in the big dance. This year, they are determined to get in regardless.

Saturday's noon game against Xavier (15-7, 6-3 A-10) will be the Tigers' last chance to strengthen their NCAA tournament resume with a significant non-conference win. Memphis missed out on multiple chances for quality, non-conference wins earlier this season, dropping games to Louisville, Michigan, Murray State and Georgetown. A win tomorrow could do wonders for the team's postseason hopes.

"This game is important," head coach Josh Pastner said. "There's no question about that. I just know that we've got nine games before the C-USA tournament. We just need to do our job in the next nine."

The Tigers (15-7, 6-2 C-USA) are 1-6 all-time against the Musketeers, with a 1-2 record in Memphis. The sole victory in the series came Feb. 1, 1955 when the Tigers played in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Junior Mark Lyons and senior Tu Holloway lead Xavier in scoring, with both of them averaging more than 16 points per game. Lyons is shooting a blistering 45.9 percent from the floor, and 43.5 percent on the season. The team as a whole is shooting 45.7 percent from the floor and 35.6 percent from beyond the arc.

Pastner said Holloway is the best guard his team will face all year.

"They've got a really good team," he said. "Earlier in the year, they looked like one of the five best teams in the country. They're a dangerous team, and an NCAA tournament team as well."

Pastner said the Tigers will need strong efforts from their forwards, Tarik Black in particular, to stay in the race for the C-USA title.

"(Black) needs to be at the level like he was against Marshall," he said. "When he's at that level, it just opens everything up for us. Guys need to step up, and I think over this next stretch, we've got to have major production from our interior guys."

Black recorded only four points and two rebounds in 29 minutes against Southern Miss before fouling out late in the game. He said he recognizes that he needs to play well for the team to continue to win.

"Everyone has bad games," Black said. "If I play good, we have a better chance. At the same time, it's just bouncing back and understanding that's part of basketball. Your game's not going to be perfect, your game's not going to be a double-double. You just have to play."

Pastner said the Tigers are still squarely in the hunt for an NCAA tournament bid.

"You look at our RPI, strength of schedule, Sagarin ratings — you look at what the NCAA tournament talks about – we're in good shape as of today," he said. "We've just got to stay the course and not have any blips in the radar."

At the end of the day, Pastner said, the Tigers just need to continue to win games.

"Every game is so meaningful," he said. "The best thing we can do to control our destiny is to win as many games as we can. If we can do that, we're going to be in great shape."